Fare-box.



G. K. HUNDLEYP FARE BOX. V

APPLICATION FILED OCT. [3 1917.

Patented Sept. 17,1918..

Winesgs: fnvezazar GEORGE K. HUNIJLEY, OF COVINGT ON, KENTUCKY.

FARE-BOX.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept.17, 1918.

Application filed October 13, 1917. Serial No. 196,386.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, GEORGE K. HUNDLEY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Covington, in thecounty of Kenton and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in F are- Boxes, of which the following is a specificzu tion.

My invention relates to deposit and collecand arrangement of parts as will herein be 1 more fully described and claimed.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a general perspective View showing my invention in combination with part of the fare registering mechanism of a street car;

Fig. 2 is a sectional perspective view of the upper part of the device embodying my invention, the section being on a plane corresponding to the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional elevation, the section being on a plane corresponding to the line 3-3 of Fig. 2. e

As I prefer to construct my invention, it comprises a box or casing 1 having horizontally across its interior, a partltion 2 dividing it into an upper compartment 3 and a lower compartment 4. On the top of the box l is a raised part 5 backed by the fare designating placard 6, and having down through its top near one end the coin slot 7. The chute 8 leads downwardly and to the left and terminates in the magazine 9 which is in the form of an upright tube supported on a horizontal guideway 10 with a slotted slide 11 sliding in the guideway 10 under the magazine 9. The bottom of-the chute 8 up near where it curves down from the slot 7, has in its an opening 12 of width less than the total width of the interior of the chute 8, and opening downwardly into a hopper 13 that inclines toward the rear of the casing 1 to deliver a coin falling from the opening 12 to the upper side ofa trapdoor 14 that normally is held up to close an opening 15 in the horizontal partition 2 by means We g te arm o tside the rear of the box and fixed on the rod 17 that forms the hingepivot of the trap-door 14. The lower compartment 4 contains the drawer or receptacle 18 which may be removed through the rear of the compartment 4 when a door 19 hinged on the rear wall of the box 1 is opened and which door is normally held closed by a seal 20 (Fig. l).

Shortly to the rear of the lower end of the magazine 9, a lower chute 21 leads from the lnterior of the guideway 10 upwardly and to the right and opens through the back of the box 1 into a cup 22 fixed on the outside of said bacln The horizontal shaft 23 journaled in a bracket 24 thatextends up and straddles one of the rafters of the car roof is, it will be understood, the shaft that operates the fare register on the car, which may be, for instance, like that shown in United States Patent No. 624,091, of May 2, 1899, and which mechanism not forming part of my inven tion need-not be shown herein; it being sufficient to describe that a short arm 25 fixed on the shaft 23 within the bracket 24 is pivoted to a rod 26 that runs down throughthe tubular post 27, the upper end of which is fixed to the lower side of the bracket 24 and v the lower end of which is fixed in a pedestal 7 ing of the shaft 23 sufficient to operate the fare register.

' The box or casing 1 containing the structure of my invention just described, is mounted preferably upon a suitable bench or pedestal 30 that rests on the car floor in such position relative to the post 27 that said post 27 and the magazine 9 and its slide 11 are on a single line from front to rear of the structure; and so that the back of the casing 1 is very close to the post 27. A bracket 31 extends forward from the post 27 into the box or casing 1 just below the horizontal partition 2 and carries the fulcrum fora bell-crank 32 with an arm extending up and connected by a link 33 to a down.- wardly extended lug .34 on the rear end part of the slide 11; and having an arm extending down to the rear with ahead 35 extending into a slot 36 in the rod 26 thr a slot 37 n th pos 27.

p'art under the lower end of the magazine 9;

and so that when the rod 26 is raised through register-operatmg distance, the slide 11 is forced back with its slot 38 under the open lower end of the magazine 9 to receive one of the co1ns from the magazine; and then when the rod- 26 descends again, automatically, as it does in the regular operation of the register, the slide 11 1S pulled forward carrying with it the coin in the gradual inclination toward the rear.

slot 38 to fall into the lower chute 21 and travel therefrom into the cup 22 outside the rear of the device. By making the slot 88 somewhat longer than the coin, as herein before alluded to, and causing the slide 11 to travel a distance about equal to the length of this slot, ample time is afiorded for the action of gravity on the coin; eventhough the mechanism is operated with a quick motion as is usual in the operation of a fare register.

clination at the front end, and longer This provides for uninterrupted operation of the device when one of the coins that is-dropped into the slot 38 is thinner than it should be; since the nextcoin above will ride over the ofthe recess 39 instead of obstructing the operation of the slide as it would if it engaged square corners at the endsof-the slot/38.

' parent plate 41, so that the parts inside the compartment 3 are visible from the rear "of the device. The rear side of the hopper 13 is open toward this transparent backplate i1. Thus, the conductor or fare taker can at all times see whether there be any coins in the magazine 9 or on the trap door 14.

' Constructed as abovekleseribed, the coins areall placed in the slot '7. 1 The large ones will slide over the opening 12in the bot-' tom 'of the chute 8 and fall into thebottom of the magazine 9; but smaller coins will drop through the opening'12'and be carried for collection of fares on street cars where afare of five-cents is charged for adults and *a -far'eofthree cents'for children. Theslot 7 and cliute 8 are madewideenough to admit the nickel five cent piece but to admit Also, preferably,'the upper side of the slide 11 has in the region of the'slot- 38 a-fdepression of shorter more abrupt-inno larger United States coin; while the opening 12 is made of such width that a copper one cent pieee'will fall through it. Passengers are provided with the five cent pieces and insert one for each adult fare, and these will travel to the magazine 9; but if a childs fare is paid with three one cent pieces, these all pass to the trap-door 11. The five cent pieces are withdrawn from the magazine 9 into the cup 22 each time a" fivecent-fare is registered,- and are thus available to the conductor for usein supplying futurepassengersWith' fiVe-rent pieces. -The *one cent 'PI'QCQS, however; are passedinto the drawer 18Wl1811 the conductor drops'the trap-door 14 by means of Y theweighted lever 16 and these onc cent pieces are removable only upon opening the door 19 by'onewvho has authority to break the-seal. It will be understoodyalso; that silver ten cent pieces will passthrough the opening 12, hopper-13 to door 19. The deposit of the ten cent pieces is not according to-the'intended system of operation of 'the device, a'ndwhen such a 00111 ]S deposited by a passenger 'as, of course, will occasionally happen in the payment oftwofares when the passenger" making the payment does not know of=this detail of the-system it will be the duty of the "conductor to supplythis passenger with two fivecent; pieces and instruct the passenger to deposit these in this slot Tywhieh coins -Will, ofcourse'; pass tothe magazine 9, and ends of the'slot due to the inclined parts it-will also be the duty of thecondu'etor to operateithe register twice and thus-register these two fares that were paid. 1 In doing so he =w1ll,' of course,-rece1veback two five "cent "pieces from the fare-box; but these willreally representthe tencent piece that passed tothe trap-door 1 1. In this manner,-all of thefive cent fares-will be indicated on the register, which will thus hold the conductor strictly to'ac'count for the ten cent pieces which pass intothe drawer v18 "where they'are inaccessible-to him, as well as the five cent pieces which he has charge of.

cent piece with instructions to deposit it in theslot 7 to pass to the magazine 9; and the conductor,"will register afive-cent fare.

thereby :obtaining from the magazine, one five cent piece.

The balance of one-eent-pieees found in the drawer 18 will represent the three rent "fa-res which are unregistered "and inacces r ble to the conductor.

It will be understood that the conductor is supplied \vith an ample number of' fi've cent PlQOGSflt the beginningof the run of the car, and is held accountable for this amount of money; and he supplies passengers with these five cent pieces in exchange for currency of various denominations, and in combination with other currency of various dei'iominations in such a manner that under ordinary circumstances and with the initial supply of five cent pieces properly calculated, he will have a sufficient supply oi the five cent pieces through the return of one of these for each five cent fare which he registers.

At the same time, it is not possible for a dishonest person to take out a greater value than is put into the fare-box. The insertion of a slug in this machine will avail the person nothing, but on the contrary will cost him five cents in order to get the slug out of the machine again, since it will be necessary to register that amount on the fare register; and those coins, the value of which is not registered on the fare register, do not pass to the magazine 9 at all, and can be taken from the machine only by a person authorized to break the seal 20.

It will thus be seen that the use of my improved device occasions no additional in convenience either to the passenger or con- (luctor, but that deposit of the coin in the slot 7 by the passenger insures against any dishonest practice by the conductor.

To insureagainst withdrawal of the coins back through the slot 7, I prefer to provide the tongue l2 extending part of the way across the top of the magazine 9 from the bottom of the chute 8 and to provide the opening 12 with a V-shaped end 42 up toward the slot 7. By this means there are provided at the abrupt turns across which the coin would have to be dragged by a slender instrument, such as a wire or the like, a sharp crotch (in the case of the top of the magazine 9, two such crotches at opposite sides of the tongue 41) into which the slender pulling instrument will ride, and in which the coin will become lodged and prevent further pulling.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: w

1. In a fare-box, a casing having a coinreceiving opening in its upper part, an upper chute extending downwardly from said opening and inclined toward one side-of said casing, an upright magazine into the top of which said chute leads, a guideway having an opening communicating with the bottom of said magazine, a lower chute communicating through the bottom of said guideway out of line with said magazine and having an opening to the exterior of said casing, a slide sliding in said guideway, and having a slot, an operative connection to said slide extending outside said casing to engage with part of a fare-registering mechanism, wherey sa s ide has ts @1011 o ght und r aid magazine and then brought back over said lower chute each time the value of a coin is registered by said mechanism, said upper chute having an opening in its lower side,

narrower than the coins delivered to said magazine, whereby only smaller coins are dellvered through this openmg, a receptacle "inclosed in said casing under said opening in said upper ch'ute, means for controlling delivery of said smaller coins to SZLlCl receping an opening communicating with the bottom of said magazine, a lower chute opening upwardly into the bottom of said guideway out of line with said magazine and extending backwardly and downwardly, and havin an opening through one of the walls of sa1d lower compartment, a slide sliding in said guideway, and having a slot, a bellcrank, a fixed fulcrum for said bell-crank, means connecting one arm of said bell-crank to said slide, and means whereby the other arm of said bell-crank engages with part of a fare registering device, whereby the registryof the value of one of the coins entering said magazine causes said slide to bring its slot under said magazine and then bring said slot back over said lower chute, delivering one of said coins from said magazine out through said lower chute.

3. In a fare-box, a casing having an interior horizontal partition dividing it into an upper compartment and a lower compartment, and having a slot in the upper part of its upper compartment, an upper chute ex tending downwardly from said opening and inclined downward toward one side of said upper compartment, an upright magazine into the top of which said chute leads, a

guideway fixed on said horizontal partition and supporting said magazine, and having an openlng communicating with the bottom of said magazine, a lower chute opening upwardlv into the bottom of said guideway out of line with said magazine and extending backwardly and downwardly, and having an opening through one of the walls of said lower compartment, a slide sliding in said guideway, and having a slot, an operative connection to said slide extending outside said casing to engage with part of a fare registeri g m chanism, whereby said Slide has its slot brought under said magazine and then brought back over said lower chute each time the value of a coil is registered bi said mechanism to deliver a coin of sue value out through said lower chute, said upper chute having an opening in its lower side, said horizontal partition having an opening through it, a trap-door swung upwardly to close this opening, means connected to said trap-do0r and extending outside said casing for swinging said trap-door downwardly, a hopper under said opening in said upper chute and leading to said trapzine; whereb ered to said iopper and trap-door and from A there into said receptacle in said lower com- 20 door, and a receptacle inclosed in said lower compartment under said trap-door, sald 15 opening in said upper chute being narrower than the coins to be delivered to said magaonly smaller coins are delivpartment.

GEORGE K. HUNDLEY.

Witnesses:

JAMES N. RAMSEY, CLARENCE PERDEW.

copies or thin patent my be obtained-tor lvrcentl each, by addressing the "coxlmiuloner of Patents, "Wellington, 1!. 0." 

